


Grappling Hook

by Lwoorl



Series: DC Shifters AU [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Transformation, shifters au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:33:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16634804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lwoorl/pseuds/Lwoorl
Summary: Little Dick Grayson goes missing soon after he moved to the manor. Bruce finds him sleeping in the cave as a grappling hook.Shifters AU, look at information of the series to know more but basically: Some people can turn into objects.





	Grappling Hook

**Author's Note:**

> So this au started as a soul eater au but soon turned into a completely different thing. I really really liked the idea and I already made a ton of worldbuilding, so, there you have it. I'm gonna explore it more deeply in future parts of the series.

Bruce should have known better.

Just because he had allowed Dick to help with his parents’ case that didn't necessarily mean he would stop sneaking out, it was naive to blindly trust a nine years old.

But the kid swore he would limit his involvement to helping from the cave, at least until he finished his training, and then looked at Bruce with such an earnest expression he couldn't do anything else than believe him.

He lowered his guard, accepted the kid's word that he would stay put, ignored the idea of planting a tracker on his clothes, didn't even strengthen the manor's security systems, and now Dick's missing.

It was a relatively quiet night for Gotham, one of the increasingly more rare occasions in which Batman's work was reduced to stopping petty crime. Bruce came back early, with five minutes to spare before midnight, and when he decided to check on the kid he was greeted with an empty bed.

He obviously didn't use the front nor back door either, and he would have received an alert if the cave's entrance had been used, but he knows the kid's more than capable of finding other ways to leave.

Not for the first time, Bruce considered placing more security cameras around the manor. As of now they're only at the main entrances, the parts of the house where guests are allowed during the parties, and some specific parts of the cave; They've never seen necessary before, as he and Alfred used to be the only ones around the manor, and he doesn't like the possibility of someone being able to spy so completely on him if someone ever was able to hack into the systems, but now that it seems like Dick's going to stick around it might be wise to expand the surveyance.

Alfred insisted on first looking through the manor, unconvinced Dick would break his word.

Bruce wanted to agree, it would be stupid from Dick to pull such a stunt when he was just recently allowed to help Batman; It would harm his credibility, and there just didn't seem like something worthy of sneaking out was happening tonight.

But on the other hand, he himself did a long list of stupid things no long after his parents died. He knows the need of going out, finding the person who ruined his life, if he was Dick's age again a simple promise of not getting involved wouldn't stop a young Bruce Wayne.

Even so, he agreed to look, first going to the kitchen, living room and hall, then the training area and the roof, when none of those worked Bruce and Alfred took almost half an hour roaming the whole manor, calling Dick's name, looking under counters and beds, all returning nothing.

And so, now Bruce's here, back at the cave, getting ready to go out again and all but comb the city looking for Dick.

While he could wait for the kid to return, he's responsible for Dick's safety. Better safe than sorry.

He's already in his Batman uniform, having made a list of possible places Dick would want to investigate, retrieving his equipment from where it's stored when he notices a graphing hook sitting on the floor that looks different from the other ones. Not just because its color is a light silver instead of his standard black, but the design is different too.

The claws of the grapnel are more separated and curved, starting at the end of the shaft, with the tips bend inward, almost too much to be practical. Also the rope, which seems to be of a different material than the ones he uses, seems to be fused to a ring around the eye instead of being tied in a knob.

An idea immediately occurs to him. He didn't see any register of Dick being a shifter, nor did he hear anything about it from the people at the circus, but it's not like that information was relevant to what he asked them, and Dick’s lifestyle wouldn't lend well for his parents to do the proper documentation.

The practice has been in desuse for a while anyway, even in Gotham, registration is only obligatory for fire weapons and sharp objects with blades longer than forty centimeters, and even then, a lot of people who fall in that category still prefers to ignore it.

Bruce kneels in front of it, takes off one of his gloves and holds the rope between two fingers, as expected it's warm. When he squeezes it a little and concentrates he can feel a light pulse, so that confirms it.

“Dick. Is that you?” He asks, talking to the grapnel. “Change back.”

There's no reaction. Bruce takes off his cowls and taps his knuckles against one of the claws.

“Dick, change back. Now.” He repeats, a little louder this time. He's just about to start worrying when the object is wrapped in light, which soon morphs into human shape. Then the light disappear as soon as it came, leaving in front of him a confused looking nine years old wearing a Superman pajamas.

“Bruce?” Dick yawns as he scrubs his hand again one half of his face. Bruce sighs in relief.

“What are you doing here, Dick?”

“Um, sleeping?” Dick shrugs. That explains why he didn't change when he first told him to. But still doesn't explain why, exactly, did he think it was a good idea to sleep in the cave as an object.

Bruce stands up and helps the kid up. “Why were you sleeping here?”

“Uh.” Dick's face heats up and he avoids Bruce's gaze. Bruce suddenly has an extremely strong desire to roll his eyes.

He tells Dick to wait while he calls Alfred, who's still looking for him upstairs.

“I found him, Alfred.” He says as soon as the butler answers.

“Ah, excellent.” Alfred replies, Bruce hears the rustling sound of fabric at the other end. “May I ask, master Bruce, where did you find master Richard?”

“He was sleeping with the Batman equipment.”

“Excuse me?”

“He's a shifter. He was sleeping with the equipment, as a grappling hook. We will go upstairs soon.”

“Ah, understood.”

He hangs up and turns towards Dick, who's anxiously playing with the tip of his sleeves.

“Dick. You worried both of us.”

“Sorry, I didn't mean-”

“No, I'm not done.” He cuts him off. Dick straightens and his blush extends until his ears are red.

“Dick, that was dangerous.” Bruce scolds him, wanting the kid to understand he's serious. “Neither of us knew you are a shifter, you could have ended trapped somewhere and we wouldn't even know what to look for.”

“It's not like you store the Batman stuff in a box or something, I had space to shift back.” He mutters. Bruce grunts.

“Maybe, but you were asleep. If someone had moved you somewhere you couldn't change, then what? How long would it be until we realized where you are and that it's you? You wouldn't even be able to call for help. What if you got hurt? You should have told us you're a grappling hook as soon as you moved here.”

Dick bites his lip and looks towards the floor, he seems like he's about to cry and Bruce feels his own expression softening.

“Just be more careful.” He says, as he places a hand on top of Dick's shoulder. “It's ok if you want to sleep here for whatever reason, just make sure to let one of us know.”

“I will… I'm sorry, it's just…”

“What's it, chum?”

Dick finally looks at him, with huge blue eyes that makes Bruce want to protect this kid. “It's, just, back at the circus I shared a trailer with my parents and, well, it was very crowded so sometimes, when I wanted to sleep alone, I would sleep with the equipment, like that… I… Guess I miss it. Sorry.”

“It's ok Dick.” Bruce assures him as he ruffles the kid's hair. “I understand.”

“...Thanks.”

“You still will have to apologise to Alfred though.” He adds, walking towards the stairs. “You almost gave the man a heart attack.”

Dick nods and follows him. “Oh, I only gave a heart attack to Alfred? Not you?” He chuckles.

“Of course not, I'm Batman.” Bruce deadpans, it makes Dick laugh harder.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember that I get my life force from reviews of my works and if you don't leave any comment, no matter how short, I will wither and die.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A porn matter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19093501) by [Nekomata95](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekomata95/pseuds/Nekomata95)




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